Anime/Manga: Divine❃Rose

A Price Unpaid- Gavin, Zephyr, Thea


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The flute was taken, and things were settled for the most part. “Alright, follow me.” With that, Izra led the small group into the thickets, moving farther away from town. There was swamps all around them, even spiderwebs here and there, and strange noises, but Izra kept her cool. Sometimes she would stop and shadows would come out from underneath her robes, sneaking ahead. But then they’d retreat back to her and she would continue on.

After a while, they came to a clearing and Izra looked over her shoulder to the group. “We’re here...” Ahead was an abandoned house next to a disheveled looking barn. Frogs were croaking all around, smoke was curling up from the chimney, and clothes that seemed to be small enough for children were hanging on a clothesline right outside the house.

Izra approached the house and then put her hands up to her lips. She made a low, whistling sound and then stopped. “They’ll come out shortly.”

Gradually, the front door squeaked open and one by one, little heads began to appear at the entrance and by the windows. Children from ages three to about ten appeared outside, walking cautiously to greet the mages.

“It’s alright,” Izra soothed. “They’re here to help us.”

Some suddenly broke out into a run, embracing Izra and hugging her tightly. “We missed you!”

“Did you get a new kid?” One looked over at Thea. “Who’s that?”

“She’s part of the mages here,” Izra explained. She then turned to the group fully, putting her hand hands on the heads of the little ones cliging on her sides. “See? Every child I’ve taken. All safe, all accounted for...”

“Ah, you made it.”

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Kyo stepped out from the shadows of the house, holding one little one so they were resting on his hip. “I’m glad you convinced them to come.”

Izra nodded her head to Kyo, and then looked to another figure that stepped out of the house. “Jack...”

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“Hey,” he said with a small wave. “I brought more supplies, like you asked.”

Izra nodded her head. “Thank you...”

Jack looked to the party and then frowned slightly. “You... didn’t get Selena...?”

“No...” Izra sighed. “It was either her, or the mage.”

“Damn...” Jack obviously wasn’t happy with the news and clenched his fists.

“You’re wondering what’s going on, I assume?” Kyo addressed the group as he walked down the porch steps with the sleepy child in his arms.

Village in Peril- Conrad, Everette, Samuel


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Samuel frowned slightly when Everette seemed distressed about his memory. He was about to open his mouth to comfort his friend when Conrad spoke up. Samuel smiled slightly at his guild-mate and patted Everette on the shoulder lightly to not disturb him much while he was preparing vegetables. "Conrad's right, you got us to fall back on. We help each other. That's what teams are for, right? No one has to strictly rely on themselves. At least that's what I'm learning from going out of the guild once in a while with you guys." Samuel glanced outside and saw that the sun had disappeared over the mountains and it was becoming dimmer outside. "It would be too dark to really get a good view on everything. I mean, even with my powers, we would probably miss details. Plus," he laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck, "I can't really expend my powers freely right now. I have to be careful with all these people needing a healer to save them from the inevitable until we can solve this."

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Renza was done washing the potatoes while the boys conversed with each other. She dried them off, and then got to peeling them right away. After she got finished with those quickly, she chopped them up into nice bite sized pieces, placed them in a bowl, and then handed them to Conrad. "Here you go!" She grinned and then dried her hands off with a towel. "I'm going to set the table!"

Renza hurried to the cupboards, taking out some wooden bowls and utensils, and goblets. She set the table for four, finding a tiny vase and placing the flowers she collected from that morning inside. They were droopy and wilted, but Renza figured they would perk up soon. She took some of the water from the bucket and placed it in the vase, smiling to herself. She then tilted her head a bit, humming to herself as it didn't look complete. She gasped and grabbed for the duck feather in her hair, placing it in the vase amongst the wilted flowers. She nodded to herself in satisfaction, and then went to the kitchen again, finding a pitcher. "I'm gonna get some drinking water for us," she announced, hurrying out of the room to carry out her task.

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Conrad smiled when Renza gave him the bowl with the sliced potatoes. "Thank you Renza, nice work." Conrad said as he put the potatoes in the stew as well and kept an eye on the fire, it just had to stew now. Conrad listened as Samuel added on his remarks of support for Everette. Samuel was right out on the mission they didn't have to solely rely on oneself. It did mean that to some extent they had to be able to handle themselves and Everette was quite capable of handling himself it was just this relatively small thing that he needed help with. And Samuel was right in needing to be using his magic sparingly, the right choice was to simply wait till morn and then head for the river, they already had a long journey behind them that day. Conrad was free to use his powers but his powers were of limited use and there was one he still rarely used as suggested by Midarah and his own experiences with the power. Conrad simply watched as Renza was setting the table and paid attention to the stew as he did, it was kind of funny to see she still had both the flowers she had picked when they went to the farm and the duck feather. "We'll be fine, it's been a long journey and a long day I know we're on a time table here but pushing ourselves right now by going to the river accomplishes nothing, we're better off getting some rest and heading there tomorrow so we can look with daylight." Conrad added, stirring the stew a little with a wooden spoon.​

 

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Zephyr looked around at the changing scenery as they followed behind Izra, the spider webs and overall swamp area seemed to go hand and hand for the part. Recalling what was said about there being monsters and such in this area, the shadows that seemed to stretch out of Izra made sense. They had to be scouting about the area to make sure that the route was safe. Was it really such a good idea to bring all the kids out here?

They'd soon arrived at an abandoned house and following a quick whistle, a large group of kids came running out. This seemed to be everyone, so she wasn't lying about that. Good to know. "So Selena's still at the village then?" Zephyr asked, a little surprised to see Kyo here, but not all that surprised about Jack. He made a quick look towards Kyo and nodded at his question.

 

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They followed Izra. They ended up moving farther away from town. He was not all that surprised when swamps ended up all around them at one point. He wondered if this was the best place for for the children. After a while, they came to a clearing and ahead was an abandoned house next to a disheveled looking barn. Izra made a low, whistling sound and a large group of kids came running out. This seemed to be everyone, so she was not lying about that. Good to know. Kyo stepped out from the shadows of the house, holding one little one so they were resting on his hip. He was a little surprised to see Kyo here, but not all that surprised about Jack. "You do know that Kyo works for the mayor." That was when Kyo said, 'You’re wondering what’s going on, I assume?' He was so so wondering why they were lied to. That was when Thea said, 'Oh no! I stopped you from saving another child. We need to go rescue them before they get hurt. You should have saved them not me. I can fight for myself. See I have magic.' "I am sure a few more hours are not going to hurt." That said he was not sure what was going on. Thea then said, 'Can we go back? Can we help them rescue the other girl? I don't want anyone to get hurt for me. That is unfair. We should go.' "We need to find out what is going on first." Saving the children was well and good but unless they knew what was going on they would be no help to the children.

 

A Price Unpaid- Gavin, Zephyr, Thea


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Izra looked over to Thea when she seemed to be worked up over the fact they couldn't save Selena. She could sense something powerful bubbling, but didn't have the master insight to know just how powerful it could be. She looked down to the children at her side and pat them gently on the head before moving to Thea. "It's alright," she assured. She smiled a bit, keeping a calm voice. "We have everything planned out. Even for just in case this happened."

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Kyo nodded his head. "Izra is right... Jack, can you go get the book?" Jack mumbled with a nod and then disappeared back into the house. Kyo adjusted the child on his hip, making sure he didn't slip off. "We've been working in the background for quite some time. There's a sinister plot at hand, and it has been going on for years. Did you notice the spiderwebs when you made your way here? That's part of the problem."

Jack came back with a leather bound book, which Kyo gave Jack the child in his arm and took the book. He opened the pages to show an illustration that looked rather old. There were people cowering in fear while spiderwebs larger than them were all around them, and spiders of various shapes swarming towards them. "You see, when Murgate was founded, the first settlers ran across a nest of spiders and stirred them up. As we came to find find out, it belonged to a demon called Xislyn." He turned a page to show a sinister looking monster that was crossed between a human and a spider, the torso being human and the rest being spider limbs. "She made a bargain with our great, great grandparents; if they sacrifice one of their children every two to three months, she would not only leave them alone and let them live, but help them prosper as well; crops would be successful, there would be hardly any diseases or illnesses, and they could obtain wealth and power... the demon takes the child and encases them in a web. After that, she slowly drains their life force out of them, feeding on them for weeks until there’s nothing left but a husk."

Kyo sighed out and looked to the group. "The sacrifices have been going on for years. My twin... was one of them. I saw it. And there was nothing I could do to save him. I was only twelve at the time." He closed the book and offered it to the group if they wanted to have a closer look at it. "Jack lost an older sister and a younger brother... We wanted to do something about it to stop it, but there was no way to. Leaving the village means certain death. Sending out a message was treacherous since mail is closely checked, and the mayor has more than half the town as his devoted followers... And that's when Izra came along." The flutist bowed her head a little behind Kyo. "She was just passing through, helping the mayor get rid of some pests, rats and mice to be exact that seemed to flood us out of no where. Perhaps from the heavy rains that had happened... The spider demon promised to keep her hatchlings at bay so long as a sacrifice wasn’t provided, and I guess she limits on how much help she will give the Town..."

“We formed a group,” Jack decided to explain what was left. “Me, Kyo, Izra, and Maliel...” Jack rubbed the back of his neck. “Maliel got caught bringing an empty wagon back in the village after curfew. She was taking supplies to the kids and then one of the kids got sick. She tried to take care of the kid until one of us came to relieve her. Normally we let the older ones take care of the younger ones if there’s no way we can get to them for an hour or two, but this one was really sick...” He sighed out frustratingly. “So instead of killing her or punishing her like the normal rules state for those breaking curfew, the mayor made her worked along side of him and used her sister as insurance. Maliel was a good liar though and kept our plan a secret, but the mayor had suspicions something fishy was going on. So I guess he was trying to find out if there was a group saving the kids and Nec- I mean, Izra wasn’t working alone. Something happened though that made the mayor not want to keep Selena as insurance, I don’t know what...”

“Neither do I,” Kyo spoke up. “I’ve been working for the mayor since my brother’s death to try to figure out a plan to get the children out of here. But Selena was taken tonight. That was our initial target. Perhaps he grew tired of Maliel not revealing us or the true reason why she was late.”

“But then they decided to go after your young friend while everyone was distracted,” Izra said. “And a child with magic abilities being sacrificed to the Spider Demon could mean ultimate wealth and power given to the village, especially the mayor... which would have made them more bloodthirsty than they already are... I didn’t want to risk it. But that’s where you come in. We need your help to save Selena. After that, I was thinking the Magic Council will finally take me seriously if I have more than one witness to this evil happening. And then we can put a stop to this. Will you help us?”​

Village in Peril- Conrad, Everette, Samuel


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“Hey, stop beating yourself up,” Samuel said with a smile as he nudged Everette’s shoulder. “You pull your load, you help the guild out, and you are way smarter and capable than what you give yourself credit for.”

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Renza hummed to herself as she went to the rain water storage on the side of the inn. There was a full moon tonight, yet it was obscure by clouds passing over. Renza used the dim lights coming from the inn windows to show her the way. She stopped under the spicket of the water storage and turned on the spout, letting the water rush out into the pitcher. She listened to when it sounded full enough, and then stopped it.

It was then she felt a little thirsty herself from all of that running around and smacked her lips. She debated drinking out of the pitcher, but then realized the boys probably didn’t want to share her germs. She then spotted a large ladle close by and grinned, setting the pictcher carefully aside. She then got some water for herself, filling the ladle just enough and took a few sips of water. On the third sip, she realized the usually good tasting water had an odd after taste and a peculiar smell, unlike earlier when fetched the water for the stew. A burning sensation suddenly spread through her mouth and down her throat, making her gasp and drop the spoon on the ground. She felt sudden cramps in her stomach and clutched at it, her face contorting in agony. She tried to call out, only to feel like she could hardly breathe. Renza was beginning to panic and then remembered her new friends were still in the inn. She clutched her stomach, wheezing as she leaned heavily against the wall for support and made her way back to the front where she came out of.

Behind her stood a shadowy figure, right by the water supply. They watched as the child struggled and grinned, tucking the vile of purplish-green liquid inside their cloak. They then retreated back into the shadow, disappearing out of sight.

Renza made it back to the front, just as her legs collapsed under her as she was going up the steps. She fell in a heap, struggling to get to the door and reaching out to the entrance. She wanted to scream for help, but she couldn’t. She could just only gurgle and gasp. A rash was already forming around her mouth and spreading all over her aching, feverish body. It felt like she was on fire from the inside.

 

Everette seemed to be a comforted a little by their words at the very least which was good. Conrad was busy with the stew as Samuel reminded Everette not to beat himself up. Conrad took the compliment of rooting for them as S-class, even if he himself didn't think he was quite ready for that yet. "It's alright Everette, it's like Samuel said you pull your weight, you are capable and you do a good job." Conrad said as he stirred the stew some more. Renza had gone outside to get the water, when she went to get it earlier she was back relatively quickly, he heard a noise outside. "I'll be back in a moment." Conrad said as he went to check what that sound was. He opened the door only to see Renza on the ground reaching for the door.

Conrad saw the rash on her face and her face contorted in agony and felt the horror overtake him. "Renza!?" He almost shouted. She had been fine a moment ago, did it take effect so quickly? Conrad knelt by her side and picked her up, carrying her back inside. "Samuel, we got a problem...Renza's sick... I found her outside on the porch... she's burning up... has trouble breathing" He spoke a slight tremor of panic in his voice as he walked over to his two comrades. "Something is very wrong here, we may not be done yet with the tests...." Conrad said as he went to one of the empty Inn rooms to put her in a bed, the first priority was to get Renza some help, Samuel was the most capable person in the town at this moment. "Renza, did you drink well water?" Conrad asked her in a kind tone, sitting on the side of the bed. No, Everette reminded her, to get the rain water... and Renza wasn't careless she had shown competence in the completion of her tasks, not to mention the well was further away she couldn't get back there so quickly. No was there something in the rain water now too? But it was a closed system, either way he couldn't draw conclusions just yet.

Conrad looked at Renza with sorrow in his eyes, the girl had escaped so far, but now it seemed like it was her turn and he felt sorry for her. She was having difficulty breathing and it worried him, going from one moment being fine to such a state the next, there was nothing he could do for her and her fate was in Samuel's hands now. "You'll be okay Renza, Samuel will do what he can, you are in capable hands." Conrad knew how capable Samuel was having healed him on quite a few occasions, he took one of her hands gently in his as reassurance, knowing full well that he was touching the rash but they had concluded it didn't spread from victim to victim, her hand felt like it was burning up. "We need to check the rain water again... Samuel would you mind if Everette or I used the kit to check it again while you help Renza, it's in your backpack right?" He asked, they needed to be sure if the instructions they had given were still good, even if it was getting really dark now they had to prevent making this even worse, if they were going to tackle this problem. ​

 

Village in Peril- Conrad, Everette, Samuel
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The sounds around her were muddled as her ears were ringing loudly. Yet she heard Conrad's voice through it all. Renza shook her head at Conrad's question if she drank the well water or not. She tried to answer his question in more detail, but ending up wheezing and wincing as another painful cramp shot through her stomach.

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Samuel was immediately on the other side of the bed, his hands hovering over the little girl. He could feel the poison working through her body rapidly, and feel its strong magical presence. "This is bad," he mumbled. Perhaps because it was fresh and taking such a quick effect that he could feel the strength of the black magic now instead of earlier with the other patients he helped. He started by pulling the poison affecting her throat, pulling it down towards the stomach carefully so that it didn't disrupt any other vital organs. From there, he was going to nullify the poison and pull it out the best he could with his solar healing.

The healing heat against the fever that was wracking Renza's body made a cooling effect through her, causing her to shiver. Renza clutched Conrad's hand, her eyes welling with tears as her body and mind fought through the pain and fear the best she could.

"I don't mind if you use the kit," Samuel said after a moment, concentrating hard on Renza. It was then Everette announced he was going to take off. "H-Hey!" Samuel called after him. But his comrade was already gone. "Damn it." He went back to concentrate on Renza as his solar energy was visibly emitting a golden glow throughout her body, burning up a now visible, sinister purple glow through her veins that had already tried to reach to her finger tips through her blood stream. "He's going to need help," Samuel said to Conrad, looking up at him slightly. "But I need your help here, at least for now." He felt conflicted and sighed out heavily, making sure his power was steady over the little girl. "She needs a cool cloth on her forehead, and someone to comfort her through this process." He then dropped his voice so only Conrad could hear, "This is almost worse than the others with how fast it's affecting her... I can't do everything at once to help her be comfortable. Not physically anyways. My hands are full."

Renza then gasped out as a feeling of pins and needles shot through her chest and Samuel was quick to move his other hand over her heart to take care of the poison that had already started to seep in that way. "It's okay, Renza," Samuel soothed as small beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead. Renza was trembling while she was being healed, taking in quick, shallow breaths to try to not make things more painful or uncomfortable for herself. "I've got you... You're going to be okay."

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"Everette!" A friendly, yet tired voice called out for the young man. It was Chief Yolvun. He was dabbing his forehead with a handkerchief as he approached Everette, looking worn and rather exhausted. "I have just finished making my rounds to all the houses to tell them to only drink the rain water." He then noticed how perplexed the mage seemed and raised an eyebrow. "Is something the matter?"

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Conrad was sitting by Renza's side as Samuel joined him Everette had joined them but only for the moment as he was going to investigate, Samuel wanted to object to it but Everette had already gone. "I know, for now I'll help you out here, Samuel." Renza clutched his hand tightly. She had shaken her head, she hadn't drunk any well water at all, which while a relief was still rather worrying if she got this sick this quickly from rain water... He felt conflicted, between wanting to help Everette investigate what had happened, but Renza had seemed so attached to them wanting to help them all out when she didn't need to and as she clutched his hand he felt responsible for this and perhaps she was comforted a little by his presence, either way he needed to help Samuel to help her.

Samuel told him in a low voice so only he would hear that this was worse than anything he had seen with how fast it was affecting her. They had been very lucky... with the request for the cloth and Samuel's help he looked at Renza, squeezing her hand gently. "I'll be back in a moment, I promise, you're gonna be okay." Conrad said as he let go of her and headed downstairs to find water, he quickly checked on the stew, the fire was getting a little low but that didn't matter right now. He found the bucket Renza had found earlier and not wanting to take any chances he found the test kit, put a little bit of water from the bucket in a petri dish and used the test kit. The water was entirely clean. He grabbed the bucket and a pair of clean pieces of cloth from the kitchen and headed back upstairs. He put a cloth in the water and put it on Renza's forehead to help cool it. With the other one he dabbed at Samuel's forehead as the beads of sweat started to form.

Renza breathed shallowly and she had tears welling up in her eyes from the pain. He put the cloth aside and took her hand again rubbing his thumb across the back of her smaller hand as he held it in his. With his free hand he dug in his pocket and retrieved a plain white handkerchief and started wiping away the tears. "You're doing great, Renza, just hang in there. Samuel is going to make you feel better." Conrad said in a soothing tone. He realised how lucky they were, if this hadn't happened they could have all been sick now, it didn't make him feel any less worried about the little girl on the bed, but the realisation it had been a close call wasn't lost on him. But if the water had been fine earlier and the rain water supply wasn't right now that meant someone had been poisoning the supply... he still had to test the supply of the inn but he could already guess the outcome simply looking at the evidence in front of him.

And if that someone just poisoned the supply they couldn't be far away. He hoped Everette was safe, the man was an S-class mage and more than capable of handling himself in a fight. "The water in the bucket is clean... judging from Renza's condition someone poisoned the supply... it just happened too if the bucket is fine and then she goes to get drinking water and it's not... The person that did this might still be out there, I hope Everette catches them." Conrad said in a low voice for only Samuel to hear. "You'll be okay, Renza." He soothed and started to hum a soothing melody.​

 

Yukyo continued to run as fast as he could. Seeing Shawn toss a knife overboard, Yukyo moved away from it slightly. After a little bit, he found an opportunity and jumped onto the edge of the carriage. Reverting back to his normal form, he looked at Shawn. "How about we not do that while I'm running? Maybe after I get onto the carriage?" He climbed back into the carriage. He finally settled down as Shawn as starting to ponder the events that had just transpired. "The madam probably didn't even know about whatever it was they were talking about. They're probably on some wild goose chase." Yukyo had then begun to examine the pastries one box by one to see if any damage was done to any of them. As he examined the pastries, he called out to Shawn. "Do you wanna get any walls up to protect the carriage? I'm not risking a repeat of earlier. Especially if they're gonna go for a round two." He then stood up and looked over to Lakoda. "Good job defending yourself. How about for now, let me take over the reins so you could rest a little? No lady should ever go through something as terrifying as that. Alright?" He smiled as he offered to take over for Lakoda, trying to reassure her with his smile while resting a hand on her shoulder.​

 

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The first thing that Izra said was, 'We have everything planned out. Even for just in case this happened.' He thought there might have been a better way, but that did not mater now. Soon a book was brought over. Kyo then said, 'We've been working in the background for quite some time. There's a sinister plot at hand, and it has been going on for years. Did you notice the spiderwebs when you made your way here? That's part of the problem.' "Why do you not just hire someone to kill it?" He guessed that this was easier said then done and it was not why they were here. Jack came back with a leather bound book. Kyo continued his stroy, 'You see, when Murgate was founded, the first settlers ran across a nest of spiders and stirred them up. As we came to find find out, it belonged to a demon called Xislyn.' "A powerfull thing interesting." He was sure that a few S class members would be enough that said, it would be dangerous. Kyo then showed them a page showing a sinister looking monster that was crossed between a human and a spider, the torso being human and the rest being spider limbs. "That thing looks nasty." 'She made a bargain with our great, great grandparents; if they sacrifice one of their children every two to three months, she would not only leave them alone and let them live, but help them prosper as well; crops would be successful, there would be hardly any diseases or illnesses, and they could obtain wealth and power' "So they went with it." It did not seem all that smart or well thought out but he was not there and it might have been there only option at the time.

The story continue with people saying that they lost people. 'We wanted to do something about it to stop it, but there was no way to. Leaving the village means certain death.' "How so? I mean I guess Xislyn would want you to stay for the life force it gets." At this point it seemed that they were few in numbers to do anything about the spider for the time being. That was when Izra said, 'But then they decided to go after your young friend while everyone was distracted.' "Um, If you mean Thea no one has made a move towards her." Nothing has happen that would say otherwise. Izra continued, 'But that’s where you come in. We need your help to save Selena. After that, I was thinking the Magic Council will finally take me seriously if I have more than one witness to this evil happening. And then we can put a stop to this. Will you help us?' He wanted a plan before he agreed to anything. "Does Midarah know about this?" If she did know then she knew the danger of coming here and if not then she show know. "If she does not know she should be informed." He looked to Izra then said, "how is it that you get in and out of town hall?" They need a plan for this to work. "We need the mayor to believe we did the job or scared you off somehow. Perhaps if he believes you are gone for good he will let his guard down." Then something came to mind. "If he does want Thea for this Xislyn then Thea Getting 'lost' maybe the best option." That was when Thea said, 'That is terrible! Why would they sacrifice children?' "Maybe it was there only option at the time." He did not like it himself. "So first thing we need to do is come up with a plan and then move quickly." He did not know what else to say for the moment.

 

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Zephyr had grown noticeably tenser as the story went on. First the mentioning of a demon had seeming set him off, he could feel his fist clenching as tightly as it could. he managed to keep himself in control to prevent any of his magic form leaking out, however by the time the story had come to an end, a few sparks had flew off of his hands as a result of his pent up aggression. he had the strong urge to punch something, whether it be a tree, the mayor or the spider demon, it didn't matter. just as long as something got punched. "Of course we'll help, someone needs to bring that to an end." everything matched up with what Selena had told him and Zephyr found himself placing a hand to his chest, namely where the vial he'd gotten from her hung around his neck. "Do any of you happen to know where Xislyn's lair is?" Another idea came to mind, one that he would be able to do while Selena was being saved.

 

Delivery of Cakes- Shawn, Yukyo, Lakoda


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Lakoda only smiled a little when Shawn mentioned she handled herself well. Memories of her past tried to flood into her mind, but she wouldn't allow it as she kept watch to on the road. "Thank you." She was about to offer her opinion about what was in the boxes when Yukyo spoke up. He then offered to take over the reins and she handed them over. "Really, it was scary, but I've been through other stressful situations before," she said with a shrug. She then moved to the back and patted Yukyo on the shoulder, inspecting the boxes herself. No damage was done, and so she covered them up with the quilt and secured them nicely. "If there is something in here, maybe she didn't want to tell us so we wouldn't give it away by accident."​

A Price Unpaid- Gavin, Zephyr, Thea


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"I get in through a tunnel that's underground. It leads to the storage room under the Town Hall. The mayor and his cult followers use it to steal the children away at night since they can't quietly take children away from their own homes since I arrived." Izra frowned a bit at and folded her arms. "We really don't have time to confront the Mayor at this point though. The sooner we rescue Selena, the better chances for her survival are. Xislyn can drain a child's essence for weeks, but it's better to rescue Selena as soon as possible."

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"I know where she's at," Kyo spoke up. "Where Xislyn's lair is, I mean. I've been close there a few times. Just be warned, she does have a 'pet' that guards her grounds. Both Xislyn and her pet has a powerful poison, so stay on your guard."

Izra sighed and looked to the three. "I'm ready to head out when you are. I will need my flute back though," she said, glancing at Thea. "Don't worry, no one will fall asleep or be enchanted. I can choose that willingly. Only my desired targets are affected by that part of the magic."

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Village in Peril- Conrad, Everette, Samuel
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When Conrad returned and did as Samuel instructed, he sighed out in relief, only to be surprised with the dabbing of a cloth on his own forehead. He would have chuckled if the situation wasn't dire, but instead allowed himself to smile a little. He half-listened to Conrad's report as he was close to extinguishing the worst of the effects of the poison in the little girl's body. The rash had bubbled to the surface momentarily, only to lessen and shrink down to tiny, red dots that gathered around her face and then scattered down her body. "Those bastards need to pay... Poisoning the water... Who are these people anyways? With their only water supply left contaminated, we need to find an end to this crisis, and fast."

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Renza's breathing was slowly coming back to normal as Samuel worked on her. Her body shuddered here and there, clutching on Conrad's hand tightly and then relaxing with each shudder. Samuel knew it was the body wanting to go into seizure, but he wasn't going to let it. The healing light around the girl glowed brighter, and Renza groaned softly. All fell quiet when Conrad began to hum. Only Samuel recognized the the melody, but it seemed to help Renza relax more and more. After a few moments, Renza's eyes fluttered opened. "Conrad..." she mumbled, turning her head to the side as she was taking in slow, deep breaths.

"She's coming out of the danger zone," Samuel said to Conrad. "Thank you..."

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The chief's eyes widened with the news and he suddenly became worried. "That's... That's not good," he mumbled. "Every house and building has their own rain water system, stored just outside... Come with me." He then hurried over to the town hall where the water-storage was and brought his lantern up, setting it on a hook right by the spigot. He then took a ladle and turned the water on, collecting some droplets and then turned it off, holding it up to the light. The water was murky instead of clear with an odd, purple-ish color. Chief Yolvun brought it up to his nose and took wiff and then lowered it while making a face. "This... this isn't like earlier." He held it up to Everette to see.

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Apparently Selena was captured which Garrett somehow missed.

When Zephyr said, 'Do any of you happen to know where Xislyn's lair is?' With the turn of events he was kind of surprised in the readiness of going to attack Xislyn. He had sugested on going to kill Xislyn but he did not think that people would be so ready to do so. Izra then said, 'I get in through a tunnel that's underground. It leads to the storage room under the Town Hall.' He figured that there was a other way in. 'The mayor and his cult followers use it to steal the children away at night.' This seemed odd that they were just finding this out now. Then Kyo said, 'I know where Xislyn's lair is, I mean. I've been close there a few times.' He knew that Zephyr was going to go regardless of what was said. "Do we have a plan of attack or are we just going in?" Thinking of Thea the first thing that he thought of was how dangerous it would be for her. "I do not think that it might not be the best idea for you to come. I want to keep you safe." He was not sure how useful he would be in this fight after all he did not have fire to fight with. With that said and done he was ready for the battle. As he looked out to the others he seemed deep in thought.

 

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Gavin's concerns were warranted, hell he could practically hear Midarah scolding him about yet another choice to be reckless. Still he had no plans on changing his mind or dying for that matter. Not when he still had things that he needed to do. "I'm not gotta die, trust me on that matter." The poison would be something to watch out for. Yes he did still have the vial from Selena, but two separate things of deadly poison was something else. If it took the entire vial for one bit, then he'd be screwed if he took another bite from any of them.

Zephyr sighed seeing Thea storm off on her own. "I got her." He walked off in the direction Thea had gone and caught up to her with soon. That was when he realized that he didn't quite know what to say in this kind of situation. Normally his sister would be the one to console him in times like this and not the other way around. He couldn't go back now. "So that outburst of yours, want to blow off some steam with me?" Ideally this would help in some way.

 

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The first Thea said was, 'I will not wait around and stay hidden. We have to save Selena. I am not a child, I am just as strong as any of you!' He walked over to Thea not sure what to say at first. "You are right. It is you that is stronger then me." As he said this he came to the realization himself. "Never sell yourself short Thea." Then Thea continued with, 'I am just as much a member of this guild so stop treating me like a child!' It was just that he was not use to having someone so young in the guild. "When I was younger I was always on the move, moving from place to place because of my magic. People doing what they could to get to me. I did not want that for others. You can make your own choices now and if you ever need help you have the guild to turn to." Then a thought came into his mind. "You have fire magic Thea, far more useful then my magic. What am I going to do blow a few hairs of the spider? Nah you got this. You could probably burn Xislyn to a crisp. That is unless it is immune to fire but we can worry about that later." He looked at Thea straight on and said, "I am sorry for everything and you can take care of yourself. In truth I worry about not doing enough for the guild." He turned to Zephyr when he said, 'I'm not gotta die, trust me on that matter.' "I just worry." When Zephyr had said that he was going to go after Thea he just let him and felt even more useless. Hopefully they would understand his heart was in the right place. As he waited for what was to come he pulled out a silver object out of his pocket and just looked at it.

 

Conrad felt Renza clutch his hand tightly but her grip seemed to get weaker and weaker as she relaxed more and more. She seemed to react positively to his humming. He nodded when Samuel said that they had to make whoever did this pay. "Yeah, we'll make them pay for this." He said softly, but the look in his eyes spoke volumes. "I have no idea who they are, but we'll make them pay. Just poisoning someone's water supply for no reason..." Conrad hoped they caught them so they could make them pay, but more importantly save all these people. "If they have any able-bodied people left they might be able to supply the village from the farmsteads, but if they poisoned the rain water then I am afraid.that plan won't last forever or is already been compromised..." Conrad said.

The rash on Renza's body lessened as Samuel used his magic and she shuddered here and there as she clutched his hand Conrad saw her closed eyes. The light intensified and Renza's eyes fluttered open and she muttered his name, turning her head to the side. "I'm here Renza, you're going to be okay." Conrad said as he placed his other hand on top of the one that clutched his hand. He looked to Samuel who thanked him for his part in helping Renza. "Thanks, I know that after a day of helping all those people you were already drained, but thanks for helping her. All I did was helping you as you did the hard work." Conrad said, he was glad Renza was at the very least out of the danger zone. He changed his position a little bit and gently pulled her a little closer to him.​